Comfort
by DerangedDynamic
Summary: It's easy to mourn alone, but easier to comfort a friend. A little clip of Remus and Tonks sharing a moment in comforting each other right after Sirius dies.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Characters mentioned here.**

Remus Lupin sat on his over worn sofa in his small, stuffy living room. His whiskey glass empty, along with the bottle. He absentmindedly thanked himself for not opening a full bottle. There were barely three drinks left in it. He tugged a small wallet out of his pocket. A muggle wallet, never containing any money but held more than the usual wallet. Firstly, he took out his 'Werewolf Identification card'. He hated it. A flimsy piece of fortified parchment stating his name, date of birth and his condition along with a black and white photo. He had it for three years now, the same piece of superficial indignity imprinted on sodding parchment. It was a necessity that he carried it around. He had to produce it if asked, and the stupid piece parchment meant he didn't have the right to refuse. It degraded his stand among the wizarding community. It told him that he was less than everyone else. He wanted to burn it but knew the penalty of improper disposition of the identification card meant a year in Azkaban minimum. It mad his stomach sick that the woman who did this to him sat at a desk in Hogwarts and called herself a professor. A headmistress. Dolores Umbridge was his downfall.

People knew of Remus's condition but didn't talk about it, or eventually forgot about it. Those who had children in Hogwarts may remember his from school if they were young enough, remembered how he was quite harmless and never threatened anybody. Anybody except Snape, but that was his own doing.

Remus shook his head rapidly, trying to forget that moment. It caused a falling out between himself and Sirius, one that he would do anything to take back.

The next thing be pulled out of his wallet was a folded up Christmas card he received from his mother four years before. She died three weeks after sending the card. By then she was in a home. Loneliness got the better of her and Remus was unable to support her. She left him very little. Anything she did have went towards paying for the home. She did leave him the house though. The house full of memories and torment.

He had his first transformation in the house, down in a small basement where his father used to work. His mother would sit at the door, sobbing all night listening to her son suffer and howl. He still used the basement, but he had to reinforce it when he was a teenager for the summer holidays, his wolf form growing as he did. He remembered James's father coming out, helping his with strengthening charms and such in the basement.

As he pulled the last thing out of his pocket, his heart sank. A battered photograph of himself, James and Sirius. Peter used to be in the photograph but he was torn from it on the train as Remus left Hogwarts, after resigning from his Defence Against the Dark Arts position. There was a white line down the centre of the photograph, dividing himself from Sirius and James, an old crease mark. His eyes began to swim with tears as he realised his metaphor. He was alive, and they weren't.

His thoughts were stolen from him by a loud knocking on his front door. Nobody ever visited him here. Maybe Dumbledore, and Sirius last year when he had to round up the old Order members. He had Tonks and Charlie over once when he was working with them. He pulled himself up off of the sofa and ambled towards the front door. The knocking persisted and it began to aggravate him.

"Who's there?" He called as he made hiw was slowly down the hallway, watching the small outline of a person through the frosted window on the door. It almost dark outside, but there was enough light to see the silhouette.

"It's Tonks." Called the undeniable tone of his younger friend. Her voice sounded broken, caught in her throat. He couldn't take any chances though. The Death Eaters were getting more active with Voldemort's disappointment at the ministry. He was ordering them to be more ruthless than before.

"Prove yourself," he muttered, raising his wand to the small letterbox waist-high on the door. He watched as the top of the silhouette turned from black to bright pink, to blue and then to green.

With a smile he pulled the door open, knowing only Tonks could change her hair so quickly. A Wizard with a hair colouring charm would have taken more time to complete the three colours.

She fell into his arms and hugged him tightly, her face buried into his chest.

"Tonks," he muttered, feeling the girl shake under his arms.

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be here. I just had to… nobody else understands." Her normally bright shining eyes were glistening with tears yet still dull and pained.

"Come in," he offered, leading her to the sitting room. He landed on the couch, a poof of dust escaping from its cushions as she sank into it. "I'll make some tea."

"No. I'm sick of tea. All Molly does is brew bloody tea. I just need to talk. I need to talk about Sirius. Nobody will talk about him." Her hair was back to black. Remus didn't know if it was due to her mood or her own armband of respect. She spotted the photo Remus was just looking at on the arm of the chair and picked it up. "He's exactly like Harry, isn't he."

"James?"

"Yeah, but he's very like Sirius too. What was he like in school?"

"Well I only taught him one year, but he's stronger than he knows." Remus sat beside her on the sofa, watching how she curled up with her knees tucked to her chest.

"I meant Sirius."

"Oh."

"I know he was a troublemaker and I know he served more than a couple detentions over his time in Hogwarts but what was he like with you guys. I was just beginning to know him. All that time I was in that house and I never took the time to know my cousin. We just got him back, I didn't think he'd be gone so soon. I just want to know him."

"Nymphadora, he was fantastic. When he wasn't hiding dung-bombs in suits of armour or behind torches he was trying to find a way to help me." Remus waited for her to scold him over the use of her first name but it never came. It didn't even show on her face. He wondered if she had even noticed.

"With the full moons?"

"Yes, among other things."

"Like?"

"Silly things. But he spent most of third and fourth year researching animagi and how to become one. He'd been researching it long before he told any of us about it."

"How do you become an animagus?"

"I'm not really too sure. I wasn't present while they were doing it. I refused to have any part of it."

"Why?"

"Because what they were doing was dangerous and would put them into harms way,"

"But they got it right,"

"Yes and then every month, they'd chase after me."

"Oh."

"He was brilliant though. Not many people saw it. He was extensively intelligent."

"Really?"

"He excelled at most kinds of wand work; Charms, Defence, Transfiguration. He wasn't too bad at potions either. He had a gift with animals, even before he became an animagus. I remember he once told me he wanted a pet griffin. I told him to give me back my copy of the Cronicles of Narnia and that real griffons don't talk." Tonks let out a laugh, the first laugh she had emitted in over two days. It made Remus's lips form a soft smile. "His mind though, he seemed to always be thinking of something new and brilliant. Most of us were concerned about the war and worrying about defeating Voldemort and Order business. He was planning for the future. Riding around Germany and France on his motorcycle with his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"He was with her for a few years. I really thought they were going to get married… he even proposed to her the night before…"

"Who was it?"

"I can't say… she doesn't want it to get out…"

"Is she ashamed of him?"

"No… she just has her own reasons, reasons that I am not fully aware of either."

"Oh… I remember when I was six and he came over to Mum's and he took me out on the bike… he didn't even turn the engine on, just pushed me around on it. I thought it was fantastic."

Again, she was sobbing, her body shook and silent tears trickled down her cheeks. Remus pulled her towards him and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He was overcome with an incredible need to comfort her. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and then to the side of her temple. He felt her move and his lips touched her cheek next before she turned up to face him, aligning her lips with his.

It took his several nanoseconds before he realised that it was not tear stained skin beneath his lips but a pair of warm, rosé pink lips pressing hard onto his. As they kissed, warmth flooded him, the first bit of warmth since they left the ministry despite the sickeningly hot weather.

It was unplanned, instinctive and precious. Her hands moved to his face and his went around her waist as her legs slid from her tight balled up position. She turned to him, her hands moving to his neck. He broke the kiss, staring at her for a moment, trying to regain control of his brain again but she didn't let him. She kissed him once more, moving to kneel on the couch, straddling him. It was at this point that Remus decided to turn off his head and give in. It was him now, just him. He was the last Marauder left and it hurt, but having the warmth of a second body tight against his chest softened the blow.

He wasn't sure when she had shrugged his jacket off his shoulders or how she took off her boots without him noticing or how they had even made it into his old bedroom without hurting themselves but soon enough, Remus Lupin was sitting against his headboard and Nymphadora Tonks had one leg wrapped tightly around his waist and the other leg supporting herself on the bed as they rocked together, kissing and moaning for what felt like forever.

**Author's Note.**

**This popped into my head and I am not sure about it. Just thought I'd give it a go. I didn't go into detail on the smut. It wasn't important. I just wanted to emphasize the idea of a shared comfort.**

**I say here that Remus is the last Marauder. I am aware Peter was alive but he doesn't count. He's a traitor.**


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